The brother of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff has demanded a $500,000 licensing fee for a branch of the family business put on the auction block, a lawyer told a bankruptcy judge on Thursday. Peter Madoff's asking price for Primex Holdings LLC became a potential sticking point in a sale of a trading operation deemed legitimate, attorney Marc Hirshfield said at a hearing in Manhattan. Hirshfield, who represents a trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's business assets, said his law firm will take legal action to try to force Peter Madoff to give up the rights to Primex at no cost.

The names of more than two dozen Chicago-area individuals are among the thousands listed as customers of Bernard Madoff in a document filed Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Madoff was arrested in New York on Dec. 11 on charges of running a Ponzi scheme that caused an estimated $50 billion in potential losses. The filing doesn't list the amount each client invested, nor does it distinguish between individual investors, trustees and financial advisers.

(Reuters) - Prosecutors in New York asked a federal judge to sentence Bernard Madoff's younger brother to 10 years in prison for the role he played in the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, according to court papers filed Thursday. Peter Madoff pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in June to criminal charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of Peter Madoff's June plea deal, he agreed not to seek a sentence other than 10 years, according to the filing.

A lawyer for Zsa Zsa Gabor says the 91-year-old actress may have lost as much as $10 million invested with accused swindler Bernard Madoff, The Associated Press reports. Chris Fields said Sunday that forensics accountants looking into the missing millions believe Gabor and her husband, Frederic von Anhalt, invested with Madoff through a third-party money manager. Madoff is estimated to have duped investors out of as much as $50 billion in a large-scale Ponzi scheme. Potential victims include several high-profile New Yorkers and Hollywood figures.

A waterfront Palm Beach, Fla., mansion (above) once owned by disgraced financier Bernard Madoff was put on the market Thursday for $8.5 million, while his Manhattan apartment will have an asking price of $9.9 million. Here's a look at the numbers. 8,700 + Square footage of the Florida estate, which has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms. 4,000 Square footage of the duplex atop a luxury building on New York's Upper East Side 150 years Prison sentence Madoff, 71, is serving for masterminding a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that burned thousands of investors

New York's attorney general filed civil fraud charges Monday against a hedge fund manager who allegedly funneled $2.4 billion to Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff without telling clients where their money was going. The complaint accuses J. Ezra Merkin, the former chairman of GMAC Financial Services, of concealing his links to Madoff and lying to investors about what he was doing with their money, telling most he was personally investing their cash in things such as distressed debt.

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff's younger brother is scheduled to face a U.S. judge on Thursday who will weigh whether to sentence him to 10 years in prison for his role in the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. Peter Madoff, 67, pleaded guilty in June to criminal charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud and for falsifying books and records of the investment advisory company founded by his brother. He agreed at the time not to oppose a request by prosecutors for a maximum 10-year prison sentence and agreed to an order requiring him to forfeit a symbolic $143 billion, guaranteeing a loss of all of his assets and income.